Social Teachings of the Catholic Church                                                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Pillar 5: The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers

We believe that work is not just a way to make a living. Work is one of the ways that we participate in the ongoing creation of the World. That means those who are responsible for the employment of people have a special responsibility to make decisions that uphold the dignity of workers and their rights. Those rights include being able to earn fair wages, to have productive work, and to have a say in decisions that affect them.

from Church Teaching

"All people have the right to economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages and benefits, to decent working conditions, as well as to organize and join unions and other associations." United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, A Catholic Framework for Economic Life, No. 5.

from Scripture

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you.  Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have  laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of host. James 5:1-4